Heat exchangers, which make it possible to transfer heat between a first medium and a second medium, are used in various industrial fields and are generally known. Applications in vehicles are of particular significance, because the heat exchangers require a compact and inexpensive design for this. A plurality of heat exchangers may be used in motor vehicles, which have an internal combustion engine for driving the vehicle, for example, in one or more cooling circuits for cooling an engine block of the internal combustion engine, for cooling lubricating oil, for cooling charge air and for cooling recirculated exhaust gas.
Waste heat utilizing units, which operate in the manner of a Rankine cycle, preferably a Rankine-Clausius cycle, are known for making it possible to better utilize the heat container in the exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine, so that a working medium is evaporated, expanded, condensed and compressed, wherein the expansion of the compressed, evaporated and superheated working medium is used to generate mechanical energy, for example, in order to drive a generator for power generation. The evaporation of the working medium is performed here by means of an evaporator, which likewise corresponds to a heat exchanger. This heat exchanger or evaporator may be integrated, for example, in an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine in a suitable manner in order to transfer heat from the exhaust gas to the working medium for evaporating the working medium.